Staffing Central: Employment Trends You Need to Know

Now that the new year is under way, it’s a great time to take stock of the state of the staffing industry. And thanks to continuing improvements in the U.S. economy and job market, we’re pleased to say that the state of the staffing industry is strong. But strength in the labor market doesn’t mean that it’s predictable. In fact, notes Michael Bergen, managing partner and global practice head of human resources for Allegis Partners, “The pace of change today is so great we can’t reliably predict what the workplace will look like in three years … Companies are figuring out how to manage economic, technological and cultural change in a world that shifts the second they think have a plan.”

Because the world of work is changing so rapidly, it’s absolutely essential to be up to date on the latest industry trends. To help you stay ahead of the curve, we’ve compiled a list of the top five trends you may have missed in 2015 and need to know in 2016:

1. Temp hiring is on the rise

According to the Palmer Forecast, 2016 looks bright for contractors seeking temporary employment. Demand for temporary workers in the U.S. is expected to increase 4.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the first quarter of 2016 when compared with the same period in 2015.

In more good news, Career Builder’s 2016 U.S. Job Forecast finds that 47 percent of employers plan to hire temporary or contract workers in 2016, up from 46 percent reported in their 2015 survey. Finally, 58 percent of the employers surveyed by Career Builder plan to transition some of their temporary or contract workers to permanent jobs this year.

2. The candidate experience is a priority

By now, you’ve probably heard that there are more job openings than there are skilled candidates. With companies competing for the best hires, the candidate experience has become a critical aspect of the recruiting business.

“Sites like Indeed, Glassdoor and LinkedIn have given job seekers the ability to provide not only reviews of their previous employment experiences but also of their experiences during the recruiting and interview processes,” says Rusnak. A bad report can turn off prospective candidates, and candidates suffering bad experiences may choose to take their talents and skills to competitors. The data is clear. Career Builder’s 2015 Candidate Behavior Study found that:

Sixty-nine percent of jobseekers say they are less likely to buy from a company they had a bad experience with during the interview process

Sixty-five percent of jobseekers say they are less likely to buy from a company they did not hear back from after an interview

Fifty-eight percent of jobseekers say they are less likely to buy from a company they did not hear back from after submitting an application

Forty-five percent of jobseekers say they are less likely to buy from a company they received a low job offer letter from

Sixty-nine percent of jobseekers said they were more likely to buy from a company who treated them with respect during the application process

Sixty-seven percent of jobseekers said they were more likely to buy from a company that provided consistent updates throughout the application process

3. Organizations are making diversity a priority

While efforts at recruiting diverse entry-level and mid-level employees have shown some improvement in recent years, up until now most businesses have lagged behind when it came to having diverse leadership. That is slowly changing. Companies are expanding demographics in their company leadership. Fifty-five percent of employers plan to hire or promote more women for management roles while 53 percent plan to do the same for diverse workers. Forty-seven percent of employers plan to promote workers under the age of 30 into management roles,” according to Career Builder’s 2016 U.S. Job Forecast.

4. It's all about social media

Whether you’re looking for a job, or looking for candidates to fill a job opening, social media is playing an increasingly large role in the hiring process. According to a Sept. 2015 study by SHRM in collaboration with Ascendo Resources, “Eighty-seven percent of HR professionals said it was either very or somewhat important for job seekers to have a social media presence on LinkedIn, and 83 percent agreed it was important to be on a relevant professional or association social networking site. In the past year, nearly two-thirds of organizations (65 percent) had hired new employees who were sourced through social media sites.”

Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center reports that “Among Americans who have looked for work in the last two years, 79 percent utilized online resources in their most recent job search and 34 percent say these online resources were the most important tool available to them.”

Depending upon your line of work, your need for social media skills may extend beyond job-hunting. You may need strong social media skills to be successful in your job once you are hired too, writes John Tarnoff, for Huffington Post. “Social media skills are no longer a ‘nice to have,’ but a ‘need to have’ if we’re going to be taken seriously in and beyond the job market in a more entrepreneurial, freelancer economy,” says Tarnoff.

5. Analyze this!

The ability to interpret data is essential in today’s competitive business world. “Analytics can help target a larger customer base by analyzing the demographic of your current customer. They help support projections, and they can increase revenue stream by offering areas to exploit disruptive uses for your products and services,” says Stephanie Vozza of Fast Company.

And Sandy Smith, editor of EPS Today agrees that leveraging and maximizing Big Data and applying the correct analytics is crucial for today’s companies. “Organizations need to understand what secrets can be unlocked from their big data sets, what questions to ask, what hypotheses can be tested, apply the proper analysis for the data and provide appropriate interpretations to drive meaningful business decisions,” writes Smith.

Have additional staffing insights to share? We’d love to hear from you. Visit us on Facebook and on Twitter.